50 applicants refuse to move in to NHDCL’s housing colony

More than 50
applicants, who received apartments in the newly constructed high density
housing colonies, have written to the National Housing Development Corporation
Limited’s liaison office in Phuentsholing to take back the apartments allotted
to them a few weeks ago.

While
more than 20 applicants have swapped their apartments with others in similar
colonies, some have asked the office to cancel the allotments in their names.

Citing
affordability and long distances than desired, 59 applicants who have received
apartments at Toribari have agreed not to stay. Toribari, on the way to
Pasakha, is seven kilometers away from the core town which some say is far from
their work place. There are 102 units in Toribari, which means more than 50% of
the applicants have refused to occupy the apartments allotted to them.

“The
problem for me is the distance between my new apartment and workplace. I cannot
afford to bear transportation cost daily,” said one of the applicants, Birkha
Bdr. He got his apartment at Toribari and he is one among the 59 who desires to
move out from their new apartment.

Also,
three applicants who have received apartments in the Amochhu colony have also
submitted letters to cancel the apartments which they have received through a
lucky draw in December last year.

Although
the rents are not exorbitant as compared to the private buildings in the town,
it is still high for those people who earn less. And for them, the best
apartments with affordable rents and convenient living milieus are in Jaigaon in
India. The rent for apartments under category three and four ranges from around
Nu 3,900 to Nu 6,900 per month.

Leki
Wangdi, a driver, refused to move in to his new three-room apartment that would
cost him a monthly rent of Nu 6,000. The reason, he said, is because he will
not be able to make his ends meet if he has to pay such an amount as rent.

“I am
thankful to all the concerned authorities who have thought about us and planned
to relocate us from our dingy houses in Jaigaon to new and clean apartments in
Phuentsholing, but I cannot afford anything beyond what I have to spend here,”
said Leki Wangdi.

He
added that his monthly income is Nu 7,500 and he pays Nu 3,900 as rent in his
present house in Jaigaon.

“My meager income will fall short if I have to
pay Nu 6,000 as rent. Moreover, the new apartment is very far from my workplace
and also from the schools of my children. I really cannot sustain my life
there,” he added.

Apart
from high rent and long distance from the town, lack of proper parking space
for vehicles is a problem for a few.

One
of the applicants cited this as a reason why he refused from moving in.

So
far, more than 20 such applicants have completed exchanging their apartments.

According to the NHDCL’s liaison officer,
Sangay Khandu, the cancelled apartments will be given to those remaining
applicants who did not get in the last lot.

“We
will compile the list of cancelled units and allot those to other candidates,”
he said, adding that this decision will be taken by the Special Housing
Allotment Committee after receiving all the applications.

He
added that of 1,259 applications they have received asking for apartments till
January 2019, NHDCL has completed allotment to 506 applicants.